Fireworks and Snow...

The perfect DisneyLand Fireworks.. Just want to share it with all of you... It's in good quality too...

DisneyLand Castle Video..

For those who read my previous post, I promised you the video of the castle...

This video is not mine actually, but when I compared this video with mine, this one is way much better in quality. Oh, and this video is from last year's Christmas, but disneyland didn't change anything, even the song. I tried to search for this year's video, but none compared to this one. You can look it up yourself in youtube if you want to, and if you found one better than this one, and it's displayed this year, put the url in the comment box. I would really appreciate it..



Right at the end of the singing, the fake snow start to fall... It was magical.. I got goosebumps when I watch the display... Not to make you jealous, but it's 100 times better when you see it live...

Enjoy!!

The Trip : Review...

Hiyaa everybody!!!
Having trouble sleeping today, since I've been sleeping until 8 o'clock at night. I don't know why, but I think today is the perfect snoozing and napping day...
So, here I am, eyes wide open in front of my PC, looking for something to do.
And then I realized.. I haven't give y'all the thing I promised a month ago.
My LA trip story!
So, here I go babbling in the middle of the night...

First of all, I never thought that a five hour drive to LA would be very short, at least for the people in my car. (Fiona, JC, Victor, if you are reading this, please laugh, coz you guys know what I mean... tell me quando, quando, quando.... =P ).
and believe me, it's one of the best thing that happened during the trip.
Here are some factors why the drive went by so quickly :
1. Through the whole night, we turned the music on as loud as we could, sang insanely to each other.
2. Thanks to the caffeine from all the starbucks our driver's drink, we were going so fast, the fastest I saw was 130 miles/hour!!!! In a THICK MIST!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I checked my seatbelt every 5 seconds...
3. Adrenaline rush, because my strangely smart driver had to wait until the gas tank light went on to start searching for a gas station... And unfortunately, we were in the middle of nowhere..
I was sweating in that cold, foggy night.
I must tell you, I never pray that much in one day...

At last, LA... But it was 3 am when we arrived there.
We booked the hotel for 12 pm, so, 9 hours to kill...
For 9 hour we wondered around LA, searching for tourist attractions.
And nothing's better than a warm light from the sunrise at Malibu beach to begin our trip..

To dirty ourselves even more than we already were, we went to Santa Monica Beach, played catch with the guys, strolled along the coastline, and buried our feet deep in wet sand..
A grand intro for the trip, isn't it?

Here's the hardest and most thrilling part in the trip. Getting into the hotel.
Believe me, if you and your friends are too stingy and decided to stuff 1 suite with 9 people, and you also bring a queen-size air bag with you, you get really nervous.
Long story short, with a flawless plan and great courage, we finally able to get into our suite.
We spent 2 and half hours just for showering. After all, we only had a single bathroom.
We went to Hollywood that day, had a dinner there and rest up for the coming days. We knew we need it..

The next day we went to DisneyLand and California Adventure. In California Adventure, nothing really happened. The ride was not that exciting and standing in line for one hour just to shoot animated paint bullets to animated 3-D targets was frankly a waste of time. But, whatever, I scored pretty high...
In DisneyLand, however, good things happened. I had been there, so I wasn't aiming for the ride, but I really looked forward to the parade and all the decorations. All of the dangers I went through paid off at last.
The parade was great, the music was great, the fake snow was great, the fireworks were half-great (thanks to the wind, we only got to see half of the fireworks display.. SUCKS!!!!)
But the most unforgettable, mesmerizing view there, was the castle. Guys, I have no words to describe the beauty of that castle. I stood there for an hour, just to gaze at the castle. It did make me mellow, and the background music when they lit all the lights on the castle... Speechless..


It's shame I couldn't share that hypnotizing moment with my closest buds. Miss you guys a lot...
If I have a chance, I'll upload the video of the castle when the lights was lit with all the background music. It doesn't have the best quality, but I assure you, it's worth a watch.

Next day, Shopping Day!
We all went shopping, CELEBRITY STYLE!!! Rodeo Drive was one of a kind. Girls, you'll go crazy with your credit card there. It was all branded, but when you're there, you can't leave without buying something. Everything was just too yummy to see. And with all that thanksgiving discount, you have no idea how insane you can get... Swiping your cards here and there...
I, myself, didn't really into the shopping. I looked around crazily, trying to spot any celebrity I recognize. And there she was... LINDSAY LOHAN!!!!
Everyone literally went crazy when they saw her. The crowds and papparazi followed her to every store. I didn't get a chance to take a picture though. Sorry guys...

We ended that exciting day celebrating JC's birthday, the reason we went on this trip in the first place. A great meal at the Castaway after a day of shopping, priceless..

Last day, Check Out Day!
Here's another problem for the trip. First, because we were all still paranoid. We were afraid the receptionist would charge us an extra 1000 dollars because we stuffed that suite with so many people for 3 days. You have no idea how dirty that suite was when we left. Second, because we shopped so hard that the things couldn't fit into the baggage of our cars. I didn't want to leave anyONE behind. Hehehehehe... Fortunately, we managed to get out of that hotel safe and sound, leaving the hotel with some stains from the In-n-Out burgers and animal-style fries we ate for breakfast (It was delicious, hmm...hmmm..). Before we traveled back to the little town of Pleasant Hill, we went back to Rodeo Drive for last minute shopping, as if we could put that plastic bags inside our jeans pockets. Not satisfied yet, we went to 3rd Street, another well-known shopping district in LA.
We spent 5 hours in the car with literally plastic bags all over us.

And on the way home, we missed LA already... =)


*Dedicated to : (In alphabetical order..)
- Andrew : When someone drives for too long in Jakarta and tries to drive in USA for the first time, then you get this crazy dude. Almost killed everybody in the car on Hollywood street; Where is your phone? In Malibu??!!
- Antonia : Strongest nocturnal creature, driving for 5 hours straight without switching.
- Calvina : Bla...bla...bla... babble..babble..babble.. (for 70 miles, on the phone) ; Hello, can I have tissue?
- Claudio : The only guy member of the Hard-Shopper Community; Mr. Mellow.. (uhuk...uhuk...)
- Fiona : Vice Precident of Hard-Shopper Community; Be sad no more. *Peace Out!* ; Crazy driver.
- Jessica a.k.a JC : President of Hard-Shopper Community; No more caffeine before driving; Our Mom through the whole trip.
- Theresia : You kissed a girl and you like it.. ; Traitor!!!!
- Victor : Tell me Quando, Quando, Quando...

Christmas...

My friend woke me up at 11 o'clock... He didn't get any sleep that night... He told me to get prepared for Christmas mass...
I look at the clock, sighing, then rest my head for another 10 minutes...
I just realized... It's Christmas...
In the shower, i got to think what could I do this Christmas...
I got dressed and nothing good crossed my mind that whole time...
I looked at myself in the misty mirror, hadn't clean it for a while... And I thought, I was missing something...
On my way to church, I tried to figure out what's missing... Oh well, I might as well found it out later...

I passed the mass, just singing those christmas carols... Listening to the pastor... saying merry christmas to everybody with a smile...
Wait... that's it...
I usually smile the whole day on Christmas... And not just on the day of Christmas...
Days, even weeks before that... When I practiced many new songs in the choir.... When I decorated my class with my high school mates.. When I had Christmas dinner with my family...

I got through this Christmas just like any ordinary day... sitting in my apartment, joking with my friend, playing some games.... Trying to push those flashing memories away...
Trying to make it as ordinary as possible... Yet I didn't want it to be ordinary...

The next day, a stranger wish me a merry Christmas... He's alone and he was smiling...
I smiled back, the best smile I could give to him...
At that moment, I know I was not smiling for him, I smiled for myself...
Knowing that the joy is always there... I was just too distracted by the fact that everybody could have fun and I couldn't because I was alone... I realized, sharing the joy has only little to do with to whom we share it... It's great if it's someone you know, but it will be a blessing if you can share it with everybody...

From that moment, the smile never leave... It stays the whole day, and I promise myself it will stay there for the rest of this holiday... =)

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year Everyone!!!!

Have you ever been in love?

"Have you ever been in love? Horrible isn't it? It makes you so vulnerable. It opens your chest and it opens up your heart and it means that someone can get inside you and mess you up. You build up all these defenses, you build up a whole suit of armor, suit of armor, so that nothing can hurt you, then one stupid person, no different from any other stupid person, wanders into your stupid life...You give them a piece of you. They didn't ask for it. They did something dumb one day, like smile at you, and then your life isn't your own anymore. Love takes hostages. It gets inside you. It eats you out and leaves you crying in the darkness, so simple a phrase like 'maybe we should be just friends' turns into a glass splinter working its way into your heart. It hurts. Not just in the imagination. Not just in the mind. It's a soul-hurt, a real gets-inside-you-and-rips-you-apart pain. I hate love".

Neil Gaiman